At its best, AI is a tool, not an end result. It allows people to do their jobs better, rather than sending them or their colleagues to the breadline. In an example of "the good kind," Google DeepMind has created an AI model that restores and contextualizes ancient inscriptions. Aeneas (no, it's not pronounced like that) is named after the hero in Roman mythology. Best of all, the tool is open-source and free to use.
Ancient Romans left behind a plethora of inscriptions. But these texts are often fragmented, weathered or defaced. Rebuilding the missing pieces is a grueling task that requires contextual cues. An algorithm that can pore over a dataset of those cues can come in handy.
Aeneas speeds up one of historians' most difficult tasks: identifying "parallels." In this setting, that means finding similar texts arranged by wording, syntax or region. DeepMind says the model reasons across thousands of Latin inscriptions. It can fetch parallels in seconds before passing the baton back to historians.
DeepMind says it turns each text into a historical fingerprint of sorts. "Aeneas identifies deep connections that can help historians situate inscriptions within their broader historical context," the Google subsidiary wrote.
One of Aeneas' most impressive tricks is restoring textual gaps of unknown length. (Think of it as filling out a crossword puzzle where you don't know how many letters are in each clue.) The tool is also multimodal, meaning it can analyze both textual and visual input. DeepMind says it's the first model that can use that multi-pronged method to figure out where a text came from.
DeepMind says Aeneas is designed to be a collaborative ally within historians' existing workflows. It's best used to offer "interpretable suggestions" that serve as a starting point for researchers. "Aeneas' parallels completely changed my perception of the inscription," an unnamed historian who tested the model wrote. "It noticed details that made all the difference for restoring and chronologically attributing the text."
Alongside the release of Aeneas for Latin text, DeepMind also upgraded Ithaca. (That's its model for Ancient Greek text.) Ithaca is now powered by Aeneas, receiving its contextual and restorative superpowers.
Researchers can take Aeneas for a spin at DeepMind's "Predicting the Past" website. It also open-sourced the model's code and dataset.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/google-deepminds-aeneas-model-can-restore-fragmented-latin-text-202004714.html?src=rss https://www.engadget.com/ai/google-deepminds-aeneas-model-can-restore-fragmented-latin-text-202004714.html?src=rssInicia sesión para agregar comentarios
Otros mensajes en este grupo.
Welcome to our weekly roundup of what's going on in the indie game space. There have been quite a few high-profile arrivals this week, as well as others that have left early access and or arrived o
s.p.l.i.t is the most badass typing game I’ve ever played. It’s actually more of a hacking simulator, cyberpunk thriller and puzzle experience than a typing game, but its core loop is book
A password manager is a crucial tool for anyone, really, but especially students going back to school in the fall. If you're one of them, you probably have more logins to remember now than ever bef
Surfshark is one of the youngest major VPNs, but it's grown rapidly over the last seven years. Since 2018, it's expanded its network to 100 countries, added a suite of apps to its Surfshark One pac
Elden Ring Nightreign is finally adding a two-player co-op mode on July 30. Prior to this, FromSof
